Rafaroy joined them with a wide smile. “How’s everything, Haycor?”
“She’s ready to give birth, but I’m sure he’ll wait until we’re on Arcadia. But we should leave as soon as possible,” Haycor said, with a slight frown, turning to look at Elena. “Do you still have the Taucets’ trackers?”
“If you mean the rings, then yes, I do,” she replied.
“We need to deactivate them. The process is a bit painful, but we can’t leave this place with them activated. It’s too dangerous,” Jarcor said, entering the shelter.
Rafaroy made the introductions and looked at Haycor. “Won’t that represent a problem for the baby?”
“No, I really don’t think so, but at this point, we can’t know for sure.”
“Just do it. We’re wasting time,” she asked, with a wavering smile.
She wasn’t as convinced as the doctor the baby would wait until they were on Arcadia.
Haycor nodded, and helping her stand, he motioned Rafaroy to hold her in his arms while he connected a small device to the rings attached to her nipples.
“We need to fry the circuitry inside the rings. It’s the only way we’ve found to deactivate them. No woman seems too eager on having her nipples cut open to remove the ring,” Haycor explained.
She frowned. “Of course not,” she rejected the idea immediately.
“It would be easier,” he insisted, with a wicked grin.
“Thank you, but no, thank you,” she said, in a cold tone.
“Get ready then.”
A jolt of energy rushed through her nipples and she gasped, closing her eyes, while she buried her fingernails on Rafaroy’s forearms.
God, the pain was terrible, but it only lasted a few moments.
“It’s done,” Haycor announced. “Now, let’s get out of here.”
Elena nodded, but she couldn’t move for a few moments. Her baby was kicking hard inside her. Clearly, he hadn't enjoyed the pain and was protesting the best way he knew. He had never been too active, she guessed for lack of space, but now, he was acting like a baby in a full tantrum.
“Wait… the baby isn’t very pleased,” she explained, when Rafaroy tried to help her up.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, worried.
She took his hands and put them on her belly for him to feel the baby. “He’s protesting,” she explained, scowling.
Rafaroy was amazed. He had never felt the baby move that way. He still remembered the first time she had shown him move inside her. It had been a fantastic experience, but it had nothing to do with what he was feeling now.
“Hey, little fellow… you’re scaring mom. The pain is gone, I promise,” he said, talking directly to her belly.
Incredibly, it seemed to work. The baby slowed his movements, and a few moments later he stopped completely.
“Good boy. Just hang in there a bit more. You’ll be soon on mom’s arms,” he added, caressing her belly, before kissing it.
Elena smiled, amazed. Though she had never thought about it, now she was sure Rafaroy would be an excellent father. She had seen him with Alanna, teaching her patiently and being always there for her, whenever she had needed him in the months they had spent on the island.
They picked all the things they were taking with them, and after they stored the small Taucet vessel in the cargo area of their vessel, they were ready to leave.
“I’ll miss this place,” she confessed to Rafaroy, as they walked slowly to the vessel. Zandar and Alanna had already boarded, eager to leave.
“I know what you mean. I’ll miss it too, but I’m glad we’re finally leaving. We need the peace of mind of living in a safe place, for a change.”
“Yes, I know.”
Once they boarded, the vessel took off, and a few minutes later they were leaving the planet’s atmosphere. Feeling a bit tired, Elena went to their chambers and lay down on the bed.
It felt amazing lying on a real mattress after all those months, she quickly fell asleep.
A sharp pain in her belly woke her up, and she gasped, startled. She stayed still, for a moment to see if the pain returned and less than a minute later, it did.
She was in labor. The baby wasn’t waiting any longer.
Struggling with the pain and her heavy belly, she got up. She needed to find Rafaroy and Haycor. She had no idea how to call them from the room so she would have to go find them.
The contractions seemed to get faster with each step she took, and she was about to start shouting when Rafaroy and Haycor showed up on the other side of the hallway she was on.
“Elena, what’s going on?” Rafaroy ran to meet her.
“The baby… it’s on his way…” she muttered, through the waves of pain.
“He can’t. We can’t have a C-section here,” he said, panicking.
“Love… I don’t think he cares about that…” she yelled, as pain rushed through her body.
“Let’s take her to the infirmary. I need to check the situation,” Haycor urged them.
Rafaroy picked her in his arms and followed the doctor down the hall. Elena could tell he was scared. She could feel his heart drumming in his chest a dangerous speed.
“We’ll be fine. We’re not alone anymore,” she whispered in his ear.
“I can’t lose you, you know that, don’t you?” he replied, in a stern tone.
She nodded, as another contraction hit her with all its might.
Once at the infirmary, he put her down on an examination table, while Haycor grabbed the scanner and started to check her.
“The baby is set on the birth canal. In fact…” he started, dropping the scanner on a small table nearby and pulling Elena’s pants down.
“What are you doing?” Rafaroy snarled.
“I’m a doctor, Rafaroy,” the other man remembered the jealous warrior in front of him, without stopping. “I need to see if the baby’s crowning.” With her pants and panties out of the way, he made her spread her legs wide. The baby was crowning. “A C-section is not a choice, now. We have to deliver this baby,” he announced, in a stern tone.
“You can’t. You’ll kill her,” Rafaroy protested.
“The head is practically out, Rafaroy. Her hips stretched enough,” Haycor pointed out, picking a pair of gloves and all he needed to sterilize the area as best as he could. “Get some gloves too, I’ll need your help,” he ordered Rafaroy. “Elena, you’ll have to push now. Do you think you can do it?” he asked her.
Breathing hard, she nodded. The pain was now really intense, and all she wanted was for it to end.
“Very well, push as hard as you can with the next contraction.”
“Yes… god…” she yelled, as she pushed.
She lost track of how many times she pushed, but it felt like an eternity had gone by before she heard the baby’s cry.
“Here he is…” Haycor announced, with a wide smile, depositing the baby over her belly.
Sobbing, she hugged him, pulling him closer to her. As suspected, the baby was mostly cyborg, though his skin color looked more humanoid than Rafaroy’s.
He was amazing. She couldn’t stop crying and laughing at the same time, while she looked at the baby, cuddling against her.
Rafaroy was there, staring at them as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“We have a baby, Raf…” she said, with rapture on her face.
He leaned forward and hugged her along with the baby. “I can’t start to explain how I feel right now… I had never expected to have anything like this in my life…” he kissed her lips gently and then, kissed the baby’s head.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we’re not done…” Haycor said, looking at them. There was a hint of healthy envy in his eyes, and Elena wished he could experience the huge emotion they were.
He picked the baby from Elena’s arms and after quickly cleaning him and removing any extra fluids from his nose and mouth, he wrapped the baby in a small blanket and handed him to Rafaroy.
“It’s time to expel the placenta,” he explained, and after working a few minutes with Elena, he finished with her as well.
Rafaroy had taken a seat nearby and was staring at the baby, still having trouble to believe he was real.
Elena smiled at the picture. “How do you think it was possible for me to deliver the baby? He must be around ten pounds…” she asked Haycor.
“Yes, he is… I guess the nanocybots worked on your hips changing them to make them suitable for delivery.
“They can do that?” she asked, surprised.
“You would be surprised at all they can do. I’m sure they have already changed your DNA structure as they see fit. You’re no longer one hundred percent human,” he told her.
“I can’t say I care,” she said with a wide smile.
He picked her hand and kissed the back. “Welcome to our world, Elena,” he said before he turned around and left the room, taking the baby with him. The other passengers of the vessel were eager to see him, and the happy couple needed some time alone.
“How are you feeling?” Rafaroy asked, kissing her.
“Sore… but happier than ever…” she assured him, kissing him back.
“I never thought I would know love… we grew up alone, with no parents and trained to be warriors above all… the only warm feelings I’ve ever felt while growing up were towards my friends. We all felt like brothers, and that feeling bonded us in ways the humans couldn’t explain,” he said, in a low tone. “Knowing you changed my life forever… I know I’ve dragged you with me ever since we met, but you have given me more than I thought possible to have. I love you… and I’m not saying this expecting you to love me back… looking back, I haven’t done much to deserve that love… I just thought you deserved to know how I felt.”
She chuckled, amazed at how happy she was feeling. She couldn’t believe her tough warrior had just admitted he loved her. “Rafaroy… I love you… I know we’ve met under the strangest circumstances… but you were in my heart so fast I couldn’t believe it was real,” she muttered. “Being with you has made me happier than ever, despite the chaos around us.”
With a wide smile, he leaned forward and claimed a passionate kiss from her lips, only releasing her when they were both breathless.
“It’s a good thing you love me… because I had no intention of letting you go. I was already planning how I would keep you beside me…”
She laughed happily. “I’m not going anywhere, believe me. Being with you is all I want.”
He kissed her again until they were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door.
Alanna was eager to see her sister.